5 UFC/WWE crossovers that didn't work
This week saw the huge announcement that the UFC’s parent company, Endeavor, has bought out pro-wrestling powerhouse WWE and will be merging the two promotions under the same financial umbrella.
While the UFC and WWE will remain largely separate, can we expect more crossovers between the two? Perhaps, but in the past, these crossovers haven’t always gone well.
Sure, when former WWE champion Brock Lesnar hit the octagon, it was pretty great, and the same could be said for Ronda Rousey and Ken Shamrock switching the opposite way.
However, there have been some notable crossovers between the UFC and WWE that went wrong. Here are five of them.
#5. Ken Shamrock’s ‘Lion’s Den match’ fails to reproduce the UFC in WWE
Former UFC SuperFight champion Ken Shamrock switched from the world of MMA to WWE in 1997. For the most part, his move went excellently.
Shamrock had already dabbled in the world of pro-wrestling before, and had a lengthy history with the Japanese Pancrase promotion, which straddled the line between MMA and its scripted cousin.
While ‘The World’s Most Dangerous Man’ didn’t claim the WWE title during his time with the promotion, he did embark on a number of notable feuds and held the Intercontinental and Tag Team titles on more than one occasion.
However, one thing that didn’t go so well for Shamrock was WWE’s attempt to reproduce a UFC-style bout in the form of the Lion’s Den gimmick match.
The gimmick, which was introduced at Summerslam 1998 for Shamrock’s clash with Owen Hart, saw an MMA-style cage constructed backstage, with a smaller crowd of fans watching.
The #WorldsMostDangerousMan @ShamrockKen entered the #LionsDen for a unique match at @SummerSlam 1998... #WWENetwork #SummerSlam https://t.co/4lFnQxed9A
If fans were expecting an MMA-style match, though, they were largely mistaken.
Aside from the referee being forced to patrol from the top of the cage, Shamrock and Hart wrestled a largely pedestrian bout that saw Shamrock win with his ankle lock submission.
The match hardly set the world alight, and while WWE revisited it on two more occasions, it was never resurrected after Shamrock’s departure in 1999.
An MMA-style bout in WWE back in 1998 would’ve been fun to watch, though, so it remains somewhat disappointing that Vince McMahon’s promotion never really went all the way with this idea.
#4. Cain Velasquez switches from UFC to WWE
Over the years, fans have pointed to numerous UFC stars and claimed that they would be a big success in WWE.
Usually, the fighters who are singled out in this way either have a unique and intimidating appearance, or they possess remarkable levels of charisma and abilities on the microphone.
Despite being arguably the most talented heavyweight in UFC history, though, former heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez did not fall into either of those categories.
Sure, he was intimidating, but that fear factor came from his performances in the octagon, rather than his appearance. And outside of his fights, Velasquez was largely stoic, preferring to let his fists do the talking for him.
By 2019, though, a number of injuries had largely wrecked his MMA career, and a loss to Francis Ngannou saw him decide to hang up his gloves.
That October, Velasquez stunned fans by making an appearance on WWE Smackdown, where he confronted his old rival Brock Lesnar, who he’d defeated to claim heavyweight gold in the octagon in 2010.
WHAT?!?!
@cainmma is HERE and he is getting a piece of the NEW #WWEChampion @BrockLesnar!!!! #SmackDown @HeymanHustle @reymysterio https://t.co/wQ7YlW3wdw
After Velasquez attacked ‘The Beast Incarnate’, a match was booked between the two for the Crown Jewel event just weeks later.
However, largely due to the fact that his win over Lesnar had come nearly a decade earlier, and because his persona was ill-suited to WWE, the fans just didn’t seem to care.
The match turned out to be largely damp squib that saw Lesnar win with a kimura. Afterwards, he attacked Velasquez with a steel chair.
Velasquez was supposed to make a return to the squared circle in early 2020, but a combination of injuries and the COVID-19 pandemic ended those plans. Three years later, it’s safe to say that his brief run in WWE was basically a waste of time for all parties.
#3. WWE attempt to create their own version of UFC’s Kimo Leopoldo
When the UFC emerged in the early 1990’s and introduced MMA to the world, fans were stunned by the ‘real fights’ put on by the promotion and some of the fighters became stars.
While Kimo Leopoldo didn’t quite reach the same level of fame enjoyed by the likes of Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie, he was definitely one of the promotion’s more recognisable fighters.
The Hawaiian sported a muscular physique, wild tattoos and a ponytail, and walked to the octagon for his bout with Gracie in 1994 carrying a large, wooden crucifix on his back.
Essentially, he looked like he’d been plucked right out of a Jean-Claude Van Damme film from the 1980’s. He also looked tailor-made for WWE.
Whether Vince McMahon’s promotion ever made a move to sign Kimo remains unknown, but one thing is for certain – they decided to create their own version of the Hawaiian in 1995.
Once known as Papa Shango, a voodoo practitioner infamous for a brief feud with the Ultimate Warrior, Charles Wright was quickly repackaged as ‘Kama, the Supreme Fighting Machine’.
From Papa Shango to Kama the Supreme Fighting Machine and beyond, @steveaustinBSR and The Godfather cover a lot of ground in an all-new #BrokenSkullSessions available NOW exclusively on @peacockTV in the U.S. and WWE Network elsewhere. 🍻🚂 https://t.co/3k6FKRYEv6
With a similar haircut and similar name to Kimo, it was clear who Kama was based on. Unfortunately, WWE simply didn’t give him any kind of character development.
Given that his in-ring skills didn’t resemble anything like MMA, even in its earliest guise, it came as no surprise that the fans just didn’t get into Wright, and after a year, the character vanished from WWE.
Wright ended up becoming a major star a few years later as the Godfather, a pimp character, and unsurprisingly, his brief run as a UFC wannabe was thankfully forgotten.
#2. Dan Severn switches from UFC to WWE
When Ken Shamrock made the switch from the UFC to WWE in the mid-1990’s, he quickly became a popular part of the pro-wrestling company’s roster.
With a persona largely built around his success in the octagon, it’s arguable that Shamrock’s arrival changed WWE in many ways. He was largely responsible for the introduction of ‘tapping out’ to submission holds, and he also popularized the ankle lock hold eventually used by Kurt Angle.
When his great octagon rival Dan Severn also made the switch, then, many fans expected a similar level of success.
After all, ‘The Beast’ had already wrestled with the NWA promotion prior to his MMA debut, and so if anything, he had more experience in the ring than Shamrock.
Dan Severn wearing the UFC Superfight title on WWE Monday Night Raw in the 90's. https://t.co/J5ooo0fwj7
Unfortunately, experience was probably the only thing he did have over his great rival.
Shamrock, with a hugely muscular physique, looked like he’d stepped straight off a movie set. Severn, on the other hand, was nowhere near as physically intimidating, and his mustache made him look more like an 1800’s circus strongman than someone to be feared.
More importantly, ‘The Beast’ lacked the natural charisma of ‘The World’s Most Dangerous Man’, and simply couldn’t get the fans to care about him, despite his legitimate background.
None of Severn’s feuds or matches really made an impact – despite an attempt to reignite his rivalry with Shamrock in 1998 – and less than two years after his arrival, he was released from his contract.
Severn remains a UFC legend and Hall of Famer, but he’s also a fine example of how being a top class fighter doesn’t always translate to success in pro-wrestling.
#1. CM Punk switches from WWE to UFC
Probably the greatest example of a WWE/UFC crossover that simply didn’t work is CM Punk’s brief run in the octagon a few years ago.
Despite not exactly fitting the usual criteria beloved by Vince McMahon, Punk became a huge star for WWE in the early 2010’s. He was involved in numerous epic rivalries with the likes of Jeff Hardy and Triple H, and held the WWE title for over a year between 2011 and 2013.
However, in early 2014, he found himself on the outs with the promotion and ended up leaving, largely under a black cloud.
Most pro-wrestling fans expected him to either surface in a rival promotion, or to rejoin WWE later down the line. They were stunned, though, when it was announced later that year that the Chicago native had instead signed a deal with the UFC, not as an announcer, but as a fighter.
It was hard to imagine Punk having any success in the octagon. After all, he had no legitimate athletic background like Brock Lesnar, was already 36 years old, and had suffered plenty of injuries during his lengthy wrestling career.
However, it was hard to accuse him of not taking things seriously. Punk decided against an immediate debut. Instead, he joined a top fighting camp – Milwaukee’s Roufusport, which had produced Tyron Woodley and Anthony Pettis – to learn his craft.
Eventually, it was announced that the former WWE star would make his octagon debut in September 2016 against a relative rookie in the form of Mickey Gall.
When Punk emerged looking in the best shape of his career, some fans believed he could succeed. However, they were immediately proven wrong when Gall ran right through him, submitting him in the first round.
Mickey Gall DEMOLISHED CM Punk. What a beatdown. #UFC203
Punk’s debut was seen as one of the most embarrassing performances in UFC history, and many fans suspected he would never return after the bout. Instead, he fought one more time, suffering another awful defeat to Mike Jackson, before departing MMA for good.
It’s probably fair to say that nobody could knock Punk for giving it a good go, but MMA clearly wasn’t for him – and his brief run in the octagon stands as the worst UFC/WWE crossover to date.